Principal's Report 

LUME

What an INCREDIBLE experience we had on Friday morning as we enjoyed our first ever whole school excursion. It was an absolute pleasure seeing the joy and excitement on our students’ faces as they entered the exhibition space and saw many of the visual artworks that Ms Laird has shared with them during their Art lessons. An event such as this took an enormous amount of planning and coordination, including many hours late into the night ensuring that the excursion went off without a hitch. We want to express a huge thank you to Mrs George and Mrs King for organising the excursion and to all our staff and wonderful parent/carer helpers who ensured that our students were fully immersed in the experience. 

We were very fortunate to have Thomas Harrison, our Koori Education Support Officer (KESO), joined us at the LUME to enjoy the experience with our school. After visiting our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students earlier this term to have a yarn about the Yarning Circle, he was very grateful to be a part of such a memorable experience. 

Please see the dedicated celebration page in our newsletter that shares more of our wonderful adventure to the LUME.

Surprise Flash Mob

What a wonderful surprise to have the entire school of students perform for our staff at assembly to celebrate World Teacher’s Day last Friday. Almost all our staff had absolutely no idea it was happening, including the leadership team, and we were very surprised by the unexpected performance. It was unanimously voted the best performance we have EVER seen at our school. 

Well done and thank you to Ms Schie for coordinating the surprise, teaching our students their parts in secret during Physical Education lessons, and to every one of her secret helpers who assisted in making it the most wonderful way to say thank you to our teachers on World Teacher’s Day.

Grandparents’ and Special Person’s Afternoon

There was a buzz in the air on Thursday when our students in Foundation hosted their Grandparents and special friends for an afternoon of celebration for Grandparents’ and Special Person’s Afternoon. 

It is always such an exciting time when our students share their classroom environment, evidence of learning, and show off their school to their loved ones. We hope many of our Grandparents and special friends consider joining our parent and carer helper program and visit us more often. Thank you for supporting our students to be the best they can be and encouraging them to reach for the heights.

Year 5 Transition – Mooroolbark All-rounder Day Champions!

Earlier this week, our students in Year 5 visited Mooroolbark College for their annual All-Rounder Day as part of their secondary school transition program. Below is a report from the day, written by Lexi N and Addy Mc. 

On Tuesday 31st October both Year 5 classes, 5OM and 5LH, went to Mooroolbark College for an All Rounder Day. We were split into 3 groups and there were 7 activities and all groups participated in 5 activities. The activities were PE/Golden Egg, Science/Raft Rally and Rocket Launching, Art/Sculptionary, Spelling/Spelling Bee, Maths/Number Crunching, Broken Calculator and Tangrams, History and Geography/Trivial Pursuit. At the end of the day we went in the hall for awards. For all our efforts Mooroolbark College handed out lollipops to all the students from all the schools that attended. 

Then it was time to hand out the trophies to the winning schools. 

The PE/Golden Egg activity trophy went to Bimbadeen Heights, our school, and the 1st place champion for pool 1 was BIMBADEEN!!!!! 

We won first place! 

It was a great day and we all had a lot of fun completing the different activities.

Planning for Next Year

We are well into planning our school and classes for next year and need to have a clear idea of exactly who will be here. This information is very important for us as we form classes so we can ensure that  are balanced in all aspects including friendships. One child moving away can leave another child without a friend in the new class. If you know that your child will be moving away next year, please send us an email to bimbadeen.heights.ps@education.vic.gov.au letting us know where your child will be attending school next year. 

2023 Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge

Congratulations to our students who have successfully completed the 2023 Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge. All students who completed the challenge this year will be provided with a certificate, recognising their achievement. Bimbadeen students are among the 66,000 school students who completed the Premier’s Reading challenge this year.

Together, they read a remarkable 2.9 million books in total. 

Supporting children’s reading is one of the most important things we can do to encourage their love of learning – opening a gateway for them to find out more about the world around them. 

The Premier’s Reading Challenge wouldn’t be possible without the support of our passionate and dedicated teachers, support staff and Emily Way and Karin Sansom who coordinated the challenge, and our parents and carers who supported their children’s reading at home. 

We hope you all enjoy a wonderful weekend with your families, and we are looking forward to another fantastic week of learning at Bimbadeen.

Adele Gregson and Sabrina George